2013 Student Design Winners Announced

The AHS International Student Design Competition Steering Committee announced that The University of Maryland came in first place in the 30th Student Design Competition graduate category with “HeliX,” a variable diameter tiltrotor concept, while Georgia Institute of Technology’s “Sterna” compound helicopter captured second-place honors.

In the undergraduate category, The Pennsylvania State University’s “Griffin” tiltrotor aircraft won first place and Texas A&M University came in second with its entrant “The HealCopter,” also a tiltrotor.

Best New Entrant was also awarded to Texas A&M University’s HealCopter undergraduate design. This year, an Honorable Mention for Best New Entrant was awarded to an individual student in the graduate category to Kiran Ganesh, who graduated from Auden Technology and Management Academy in Bangalore, India, with his entry “Kurara,” a rotor-in-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

Eurocopter was the sponsor of the 30th annual competition, which rotates among AgustaWestland, The Boeing Company, Bell Helicopter Textron, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., and Eurocopter; the companies also provide the judges for the competition.

The 2013 Student Design Competition challenged students to design The HealCopter, a helicopter aimed at rescuing victims of a natural disaster. It must be capable of reaching the scene of the disaster rapidly with a large payload. It also requires equipment for the helicopter to operate safely.

More than 100 students from universities, colleges and institutions around the world participated in this year's competition. This included a record 18 teams from 14 different schools. In the end, 11 teams submitted full proposals to the competition by the deadline.

For those interested in more information about the AHS Student Design Competition please visit our website at www.vtol.org/sdc. The top-winning entries from the 30th Student Design Competition are posted on the site, along with previous winners. This webpage also features the Request for Proposal for the 2013-2014 AHS Student Design Competition, sponsored by AgustaWestland in collaboration with Advanced Rotorcraft Technology, for an X-VTOL.